California’s fast-growing advanced energy economy is good for business and the economy. The industry is a source of more than 500,000 jobs across the state, and a bill now before the Legislature would make things even better.

The Legislature is considering Senate Bill 100, which would move our state’s electric grid to 100 percent renewable generation by 2045. And to help us make that goal, it would also accelerate California’s interim targets, calling for a 50 percent Renewables Portfolio Standard by 2026 and 60 percent by 2030.

Last year, renewables generated about 29 percent of our electricity, so those goals are ambitious, but importantly, are achievable. So far, each time California has set a clean energy goal, we have gotten there faster than planned. We can do it again — and we should, for the sake of our environment and our economy.

At the Los Angeles Business Council, we recently joined almost two dozen business groups in calling for SB100’s passage. The letter read, “While we support the climate and environmental goals of SB100, as business leaders and organizations we enthusiastically embrace the economic engine that this bill embodies for California …. We cannot afford to miss the opportunity to advance this important measure.”

The economic trends are clear, both in the United States and worldwide. Renewable costs keep falling, and in many places it’s cheaper to build wind and solar plants than new fossil-fired options. More renewable generation than fossil-fired generation was built last year, both in the U.S. and worldwide. In short, a massive move to advanced energy is under way and gaining speed. California is well positioned to lead the way, and SB100 will help keep us out front.

Our state boasts the largest advanced energy economy in the nation. More than 500,000 Californians work in fields like energy storage, clean energy generation, and advanced vehicles. One out of every six Americans working in advanced energy lives here. And we have the largest solar energy workforce in the United States; in fact, California’s solar sector employs nearly 10 times more people than all of the coal mining jobs in the entire nation put together.

California also leads the nation in terms of investment in clean technologies. We pulled in $9.8 billion in 2015, which is more than two-thirds of total U.S. clean-tech investment.

Taking a closer look at our own backyard: The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan area leads the state with 157,805 advanced energy jobs. That’s more than the motion picture, television and radio industries employ statewide. And energy innovation is alive and well in our region: we filed almost 1,130 green technology patents last year.

But it’s not just urban centers like Los Angeles that will benefit from cementing California’s commitment to advanced energy. Most renewable energy projects built in California in the last decade are in rural counties, including places that have struggled with higher unemployment levels. For example, in the San Joaquin Valley, the Renewables Portfolio Standard has created 88,000 jobs and injected $11.6 billion into the economy. In the Inland Empire, the construction of new renewable power plants generated 29,000 high-skilled and high-quality direct jobs from 2010 to 2016.

One final argument for expanding our commitment to renewable energy is experience. The last time California expanded our Renewables Portfolio Standard, we saw at least 354,000 additional direct job-years created statewide, along with at least 879,000 job-years in construction. Who would say no to an economic boost like that?

Businesses up and down the state and across the country have made commitments to purchasing clean power, with companies from Google to General Motors setting target dates to go 100 percent renewable. Dozens of American cities from coast to coast are setting all-clean-energy goals, too. If SB100 goes through, California will become the world’s first top-10 economy to commit to 100 percent renewable energy.

That will be a powerful market signal. And it will secure California’s clean energy leadership for years to come. California’s businesses will benefit — and our entire economy and environment will win, as well.